Vietnam

After having an amazing four days in Laos, our schedule led us to our next stop, Vietnam.  It's safe to say all three of us -  Lee, Steph, and I - were pretty nervous.  I had heard that Vietnam can be pretty intimidating at best and downright frightening at worst.  It was with both high anxiety about the week to come and serious sadness about leaving Laos that I boarded the plane headed for Hanoi.

Truth be told, my first impression of Vietnam was pretty good.  After landing and exchanging some money at the airport (1 USD = 20,000 Vietnamese Dong, yes they are called Dong), we made our way from the airport to our hostel in the Old Quarter of Hanoi without any serious problems.  We had to walk a bit of the way through the Old Quarter and I actually really enjoyed it.  Hanoi has a famous lake, Hoen Kiem Lake, at its center and at night the area all around it was lit up and looked really cool.  After dropping our bags off in our room and meeting up with our friend Becca, we headed to dinner.  Vietnam has some pretty legendary food and dinner lived up to its reputation.  The fresh spring rolls were fantastic.  As I said, my first impression of Hanoi was pretty good and I went to bed that night thinking my previous anxiety might have been unnecessary.

The next day I realized I was very wrong.  The only word I can use to describe Hanoi during the day is chaos.  It was absolutely crazy.  The shops and restaurants completely take over the sidewalks so you are forced to walk in the street.  This would be ok if the traffic in the streets wasn't INSANE.  There are motorbikes everywhere and God forbid they slow down to let you cross.  Crossing the street is a serious liability.  I suddenly had a lot of sympathy for that little frog in frogger.  In addition to all of this, the people were, in my opinion, incredibly unfriendly.  Now, I know that's a huge generalization and there were a number of people we met that were very nice, but overall, the people of Vietnam just don't even come close to having the level of hospitality that I've found in all of the other Southeast Asian countries I've visited.  I'm sure some people will say that the country's history with Westerners would lead them the have some hard feelings towards us but, be that as it may, the people were just plain rude.

The following pictures are of the same intersection over a 2 minute period:

Anyway, that first day was spent exploring the city.  The lake I mentioned previously was nice but that is pretty much the only highlight of day one in Hanoi.  That night, we went to one of the famous "bia hoy" places in Hanoi.  These places are known for their cheap, homemade beer (the cheapest in the world, according to one travel book).  The places basically consist of a collection of plastic chairs set up on random corners with a keg of beer in the middle.  I'm pretty sure they're illegal because we were forced to stand and pick up our chair every time the police came by.  It was definitely an interesting drinking experience.

Drinking "Bia Hoy" on the street corner

The next day we headed over to Hao Lo Prison.  This is where the Vietnamese kept American POWs during the Vietnam War (American War as they know it).  It was nicknamed the "Hanoi Hilton" by American GIs.  The prison was actually really interesting.  I definitely enjoyed checking it out.  The part that addresses their treatment of American soldiers made it look like their time in the prison was practically a vacation, which I'm positive is entirely untrue, but overall it was a pretty cool thing to see.

John McCain's flight suit

That night consisted of one of the two parts of the trip that I was dreading, a 15 hour train ride.  The thought of spending 15 hours stuck in a train car was not the least bit appealing to me.  There were four of us making the trip so we tried to book a four person, "soft" sleeper cabin but they were all sold out and instead we were put into a six person, "hard" sleeper cabin.  I had fears of being forced to lay on a slab of wood listening to our two random bunk mates fart and snore all night.  The truth is though, it wasn't really that bad.  We got placed in a cabin with a very nice German couple and the "hard" beds just meant that the mattress was a little bit thinner.  We boarded the train around seven at night and, after getting used to having the ceiling of the train car mere inches above my face, I spent a few hours reading and then eventually got a decent night's sleep.  An hour after waking up, we arrived at our destination, the city of Danang.

Lee and Becca settle into our spacious digs.

Us and our German friends

Danang is really nothing to write home about but the beach near it, Hoi An, is known as one of Vietnam's premier beaches.  We caught a cab from the train station to Hoi An and checked into a really awesome hotel (the hotels we stayed in throughout Vietnam were all actually pretty nice and they were definitely cheap).  We then rented some bikes and rode down to the beach.  It was a pretty nice beach but the honest truth is it doesn't compare to some of the beaches I've been lucky enough to visit in Thailand.  The next day we checked out the town of Hoi An.  It is a cool, old town where the French influence in Vietnam is very apparent.  It is actually one of the few places in Vietnam that remained untouched during the Vietnam War.

That night, we embarked on the second part of the trip that I was dreading, a 17 hour train ride to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon).  Knowing what to expect, I wasn't as nervous about this leg of the trip but I still wasn't looking forward to it.  The unfortunate part of the ride was that despite boarding the train at ten PM and sleeping all night, we didn't get to our stop until three the next afternoon.  It was definitely a long morning.

Fortunately, we made it to Ho Chi Minh City in one piece and all our overnight train journeys were officially behind us.  I liked Ho Chi Minh City far more than I liked Hanoi.  We met our friends Katie and Chelsea there and our first night was one of the most fun I had on the trip.  The six of us went to various spots on "pub street" and tried a few of the local beers.  Fortunately, unlike Hanoi, the bars on pub street were actual bars and not just plastic chairs set up on the sidewalk.

Our first night in Ho Chi Minh City

The next morning we signed up for a tour of the Mekong River Delta.  It was a fun experience.  We went up and down the river checking out various things like the floating market and a coconut candy factory.  We also stopped at one of the islands in the delta for lunch and got to check out the surrounding area.  It was pretty cool to see the way people live on the water.

The Mekong River Delta

Part of the floating Market

The next day was our final one in Vietnam.  I can't say I wasn't excited to head back to the comforts of Thailand (who would have guessed I'd be saying that five months ago?).  But before heading to the airport, I checked out the War Remembrance Museum.  This museum is dedicated to the war with America.  It was a really weird experience.  It was so odd walking around and looking at the exhibits and feeling like "the enemy."  Honestly, I had a lot of mixed feelings while at the museum but for the sake of this blog I'll just stick with the fact that it was a strange, albeit very interesting, experience.

After the museum, it was time to head home.  I really can't decide how I feel about Vietnam.  The truth is, I hated Hanoi and couldn't wait to leave there.  Although Hoi An and Ho Chi Minh City were much better than Hanoi, Vietnam is definitely my least favorite of the four Southeast Asian countries I've been to.  I will say though, I'm very glad I had the chance to check it out but I don't see myself ever wishing to return there.

Up next on my Southeast Asian tour was a trip to the beaches of Southern Thailand.  That, though, is a story for another day...